—Curse energy.
The World’s Blood, the incomplete power of creation, the limited ‘power of making wishes come true’, and the currency for exchanging all things.
It undoubtedly possessed immense value. However, this did not mean that just by acquiring the power of the curse, one could immediately become a Great Sage, obtaining omnipotent and unrestrained transcended power.
It was like discovering oil; one needed highly complex technology to convert the oil into wealth. Similarly, finding nuclear material didn’t mean they could use it as a weapon.
Even if they built a curse shaft and obtained curse energy, it certainly did not mean that they could utilize the curse energy immediately.
—So, how exactly did the Northern Brotherhood plan to capitalize on the curse energy?
Annan was aware of this problem from the very beginning.
However, Annan later realized that “Satiated Gold” seemed to be just a metaphor.
They didn’t really intend to use curse energy to create nightmares.
They definitely lacked the technology to build a sophisticated curse energy disperser — a device the elves had developed after long research in the desert.
In the city of elves, the “street lights” on the ground that could automatically light up when filled with water were actually “dispersers” that highly activated curse energy through complex technology.
It was a machine that activated inert curse energy, specializing it in different directions.
They used it to create curse energy for consumables, to maintain residents’ health, to process precision instruments, to create transcended equipment, and to massively produce buildings.
The “colors” of curse energy were different in the directionality of the specialized curse energy, so they were used in different machines.
The magnificent curse energy civilization created by the elves was not a primitive creation, born from merely channeling curse energy and brute-forcing ideas.
Even if the Northern Brotherhood succeeded in building the curse shaft, how would they alter and activate the extracted inert curse energy?
Now, Count Urie’s actions finally explained Annan’s doubts.
For a moment, Annan thought of the bottle of [sacred bone extract (justice)] he found in Elven Ruins.
It was the “Dragon Blood Medicinal Wine” Boffis’s mother made, who soaked a sacred bone into the wine.
Annan was surprised back then.
Why were there traces of curse energy found in the bottle of Wyrmrest Reagent: [the Heart of Justice]?
The production of Wyrmrest Reagent did not require curse energy.
Moreover, Boffis’s mother kept [the Heart of Justice] because she wasn’t acknowledged by it for the time being, so she sealed it for her future use.
Thus, she wouldn’t have injected curse energy into Wyrmrest Reagent — if the medicinal property was damaged, the sealed sacred bone would escape.
However, Annan finally had his answer.
No curse energy was injected into the “Wyrmrest Reagent” that stored the sacred bone.
Instead, the sacred bone extract was used as a catalyst to activate the inert curse energy!
The old man took a deep breath. His pupils were gradually filled with pale golden particles.
Something appeared in front of him.
It was an illusory entity with a white background and golden hexagons spread out like a honeycomb.
The golden particles formed the shape of a wall, and then the white base with the golden grid shattered and retreated, revealing an incredibly sturdy wall of fine steel. The wall was adorned with sharp, dark spikes. Anyone charging at it would likely be instantly turned into a porcupine.
“What a foolish creation!” Zorgen didn’t hesitate.
Without further delay, he faced his right hand toward the old man behind the wall and squeezed hard!
Without being seen at all, like a monstrous entity, a shadowy flower full of spikes and sharp fangs suddenly bloomed beneath the old man, firmly gripping and immobilizing him in place.
Afterward, spine-like icy spikes fiercely shot out from the center of the flower, instantly piercing through the old man’s body as if it were tofu!
It was Shadow Hunter’s ability [Shadow Trap] combined with Winter Chanter’s [Ice Thorn Spear]. The former could summon a pre-constructed shadow creature from the enemy’s shadow beneath their feet. At the same time, the latter could, with a specific motion, call forth sharp and hard ice spears from a designated location after a brief delay.
For the Shadow Hunter, the Shadow Trap was merely a brief control skill to distract the enemy’s attention. The surging Ice Thorn Spear, aside from in large-scale group battles, was almost impossible to hit the enemy with.
However, if these two skills were used simultaneously, they transformed into an assassination technique with nearly a hundred percent hit rate. Paired with the damage bonus of the assassin master to “enemies who couldn’t see them”, just the first strike was enough to kill Count Urie instantly!
Seeing their “carry” killed the boss instantly, the players were stunned for a moment.
[TN: Gaming context, the one person winning the match for everyone else.]
However, the battle was far from over yet.
“There’s no point in killing me.”
The old man had half of his head gone. He couldn’t even open his mouth.
This was the phrase unanimously spoken by the remaining four individuals, “The will of the snake resides in all rings.”
They simultaneously revealed a kind smile in unison, opening the safety valve.
Accompanied by a hissing sound reminiscent of opening a soda can, the activated gaseous curse energy flowed through the respirator and was inhaled into the bodies of the four individuals.
Did they draw experience from the previous failure?
An eggshell with a white base and golden grid emerged around them, which quickly turned transparent, enveloping them within.
The remaining half of the old man’s head was smiling… burning in golden flames, turning into ashes.
Before he died, he made the second and last creation in his life.
The entire barrier was instantly filled with endless white light.
It was not the light that was created.
Instead, it created a kind of ubiquitous dust that continues to emit light without affecting vision.
The whole world turned pure white.
It was like they were stepping on a gray-black floor of nothingness. In each corner stood an enemy, and their shadows had all disappeared.
Just the counterattack before death completely halted the shadow ability.
Suuankou couldn’t help but say, “I’m feeling that vibe now. The desperate noobs.”
“Shh!” Citalopram motioned him to be quiet.
“The truth is, you could have commented a bit more.” The girl revealed a kind smile and said with a light laugh, “After all, the time left for you is not much.”
Around the four of them, traces of the white gold net appeared again. However, this time it disappeared in a flash, and many swords emerged from the side.
“Where did the glittering gold come from?” Wandering Child was surprised.
Each of them was a magic weapon shining with brilliance.
The moment they were created, without any pause, they shot toward the crowd from all directions!
But until then…
“Blood of Frostborn—”
Traces of frosty white flowed out from Annan’s scepter. He quickly built its gorgeous hollow frost tower around him, protecting everyone.
Annan held the three-color scepter tightly and uttered an ancient chant that no one had ever heard before.
“Tower of Babel!” A Frost Tower appeared.
These sharp and swift weapons struck the wall of the Frost Tower, leaving only a hole of less than half a centimeter before being mercilessly deflected away.
“Great!” Suuankou shouted, “They failed to penetrate our defense!”
However, Annan frowned.
The attacks could leave a mark. This indicated that this strike had already surpassed the destructive power of the Silver Rank. The defensive strength of the Frost Tower was sufficient to nullify the damages from the Silver Rank. However, these blades were rapidly thinning the walls of the Frost Tower at a visible speed.
“The power that can create all things…” Zoya’s face looked ugly.
She was a little nervous.
However, Zorgen was unfazed.
The ring on his pinky finger had already been activated — the runes completely covered his entire left arm and most of his face. Curved, wolf-like black totems were etched onto his body, even causing him to sport heavy black eyeshadow around his eye corners.
“The ‘counts’ have good coordination with each other. They gradually become more familiar with the curse energy.
“However, they have little combat experience. This is our chance.”
Zorgen said concisely and swiftly, “Creating a spellbound creature takes time… its appearance depends more on imagination and knowledge.”
“We couldn’t wait any longer! We had to gather our strength and start reducing their numbers first—”
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